DOCSLIB.ORG

Abstract the Purpose of My Thesis Is to Explore Lesbianism in Adrienne

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Abstract the Purpose of My Thesis Is to Explore Lesbianism in Adrienne Abstract The purpose of my thesis is to explore lesbianism in Adrienne Rich’s essays and poetry. Rich has earned her reputation as a major American poet and essayist since the 1950s. Most attention has been paid to her extraordinary poems and revolutionary prose. However, the issue of lesbianism has seldom been focused on or fully discussed. Therefore, I would try to present a panoramic view on how lesbianism has been developed in Rich’s works. In the first chapter, I have tried to delineate various definitions of “lesbian”, and formulate my own definition. Besides that, I have also introduced some theoretical perspectives of lesbianism. In the second chapter, the discussion is mainly on Rich’s concepts— “institutionalization of heterosexuality”, “lesbian existence” and “lesbian continuum”— which were brought up in the essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” In the third chapter, my aim is to delineate the development of Rich’s lesbian perspective in her poetry. The discussion consists of three parts: the first part covers the revelation of women’s oppression; the second is stressed on the concept of androgyny; the last part will present Rich’s idea that women’s power should be based on close relations among women. 論文名稱：安筑恩‧瑞奇詩與散文中的女同志主義 校所組別：國立中山大學外國語文研究所 研究生： 蔡婉俐 指導教授： 鍾玲 教授 論文摘要： 本論文旨在探討安筑恩‧瑞奇的詩與散文中所展現的女同志主 義。自 50 年代起，瑞奇即以美國主要的詩人與散文作家享有盛譽。 最受到注意的莫過於她精采絕倫的詩作與富有革新精神的散文。然 而，當中卻鮮少有人針對女同志主義提出全面性的討論。因此，筆者 試圖在本論文中呈現瑞奇作品中的女同志主義。第一章，筆者首先引 證多家對“女同志”之定義，再為“女同志”做出定義。此外，本章 將簡介各個不同理論觀點對女同志主義所做過的研究與討論。第二 章，討論著重於瑞奇在“強迫性異性戀與女同志存在”一文中所提出 的主要觀念：「異性戀的制度化」，「女同志存在」，和「女同志連續體」。 第三章，筆者將呈現女同志主義觀點在瑞奇詩中的發展。討論將分成 三部份：一是關於女性受壓迫事實的揭露；二是強調「雌雄同體」觀 念的討論；最後是展現瑞奇的概念— 女性力量應奠基於女性親密關 係。 Table of Contents Introduction . 1 Chapter I Definition of “Lesbian” and Theoretical Perspectives on Lesbianism . .10 Chapter II Lesbianism in Adrienne Rich’s Political Essays . 40 Chapter III Lesbianism in Adrienne Rich’s Poetry . .. .62 Conclusion . 101 Works Cited . .106 Tsai 1 Introduction The poetry and feminist essays of Adrienne Rich (b.1929) have won her literary fame. I perceive that lesbianism is an important issue presented both in her poetry and essays. Most critics put more emphasis on feminism than on lesbianism in Rich’s works1. For instance, Albert Gelpi in her essay “Adrienne Rich: The Poetics of Change” has paid more attention on Rich’s development of feminism (ARPP 282-99); the feminist critic Judith McDaniel explores Rich’s changing visions with a feminist point of view in “Reconstituting the World” (Reading Adrienne Rich 3-29). Only several critics like Judy Grahn in The Highest Apple: Sappho and The Lesbian Poetic Tradition discuss Rich’s essays or poetry with a viewpoint of lesbianism. If we want to fully understand Rich’s lesbianism, it is necessary to read the poetry and essays that are composed before she raises her theory in “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” which was published in 1980. My thesis consists of three chapters that I will give 1 Feminist studies on Rich’s works include: Jane Roberta Cooper, ed., Reading Adrienne Rich: Reviews and Re-Visions, 1951-81 (Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1984); Claire Keyes, The Aesthetics of Power: The Poetry of Adrienne Rich (Athens: U of Georgia P, 1986); Jean Perreault, Writing Selves: Contemporary Feminist Autography (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1995); Alice Templeton, The Dream and the Dialogue: Adrienne Rich’s Feminist Poetics (Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1994), and others. Tsai 2 brief summaries in the introduction. Before that, I will introduce some significant facts in the development of Rich’s lesbian perspective. According to Claire Keyes, it will be disappointing for those readers who look for “the feminist visionary of her later poems” in the early poems of Adrienne Rich, since those visions were still tiny “seeds” shaded by the dominant form of “mainstream patriarchal values” (15-16). Those patriarchal values can be perceived in W. H. Auden’s praise of Rich’s “modesty” for her first volume A Change of World (1951). Rich’s poems are considered “modest” mainly because of the revelation of “their family tree” which specifically speaking, is the poetic tradition established by celebrated men poets. Her early poems have been extolled for their skillful imitation of the “neat” and “modest” forms of some male poets like Robert Frost and W. B. Yeats. In addition, the emotions motivating the poems are also considered praiseworthy because, in Auden’s words, they “are not peculiar to Miss Rich but are among the typical experiences of our time” (ARPP278-9). Keyes suggests that Auden includes Rich in a circle of men poets without regards to her being a woman (16). In other words, there is no ostensible attempt to voice out the particular sound of a woman poet in Rich’s early poems. Tsai 3 Even though Rich does not exhibit aggressive feminist perspectives at the beginning, we can still find in these early poems that women artists encounter struggles that rise from the conflicts between their inner desires and the outward restraint from the artistic society that is hosted by a majority of male writers. In the fifties and early sixties described by Rich herself as “years of rapid revelations”, probably stimulated by the atmosphere of uncertainty, Rich began to think about “pacifism and dissent and violence, about poetry and society” and her relationship to all these things. In the late fifties when her third child was born and she was barely able to write, Rich was frightened by a “sense of drift” or so called “destiny” in which she felt losing contact with the girl “who had experienced her own will and energy almost ecstatically at times” (ARPP 173). At that time, her poems were “jotted in fragments during children’s naps, brief hours in a library, or at 3:00 A.M. after rising with a wakeful child” (175). Under such despairing conditions was produced the volume Snapshots of a Daughter-in Law (1963) which can be regarded as her first feminist work. Composing the poem “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”, as Rich admits, is a great relief to her because she no longer follows the Tsai 4 conventional poetics of universalism but returns to use the pronoun “I” as well as to identify herself as a female poet (ARPP 175). Since then Rich begins to undergo an exploration of her identity as a woman and as a non-traditional female poet. The process culminates in the volume Diving into the Wreck (1973) where the idea of women’s power is gradually shaped. Then comes The Dream of a Common Language (1978) in which the concept of women’s power becomes mature as Rich identifies it as a communal power lying in women’s daily relationship. Simultaneously, Rich advocates to re-establish a women’s civilization and female poetics by unraveling the original bond between women, by envisioning women’s love for women. Rich seldom labels her own poetry as lesbian, but in many ways, her poetic writings reflect her theoretical concepts of “lesbian existence” and “lesbian continuum” (BBP 51) which mean any compulsory way of life should be rejected, the taboo of women’s mutual love should be broken, the history of women-identified experiences should be excavated, and the meaning of lesbianism should be created and expanded to involve any form of women’s intimacies. In the first chapter “Definition of ‘lesbian’ and Theoretical Tsai 5 Perspectives on Lesbianism”, the aim is to establish my definition of “lesbian” and to offer a broad view on lesbian studies that have been taken with varieties of theoretical perspectives. At first, I look up the word “lesbian” or “lesbianism” in the dictionaries but find that in most entries, “lesbian” or “lesbianism” is defined exclusively in relation to women’s sexuality. Then I read Ann Ferguson’s discussion on defining “lesbian” which offers some explicit directions to set up my definition of “lesbian”. In her essay “Patriarchy, Sexual Identity, and the Sexual Revolution” published in 1981, Ann Ferguson discusses some acknowledged definitions like that given by Blanche Weisen Cook2 in 1977, and points out two problems that are commonly detected in most definitions of “lesbian.” I think Ferguson’s ideas about giving a specific definition are practical and useful. So according to her suggestions, I try to develop my definition that will be applied to the word “lesbian” in the following discussion. Before discussing lesbianism in Rich’s works, it is necessary to have some background knowledge about lesbianism by looking at how lesbianism has been studied in different theoretical dimensions, such as 2 The definition of Blanche W. Cook is quoted in Chapter I. Tsai 6 biology, psychoanalysis, sociology, feminism and literature. Since my discussion will concentrate on Rich’s writings before and around the 1980s, I intend to take a brief look at other theories that can present a historical view on the development of lesbianism from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1980s and that might bear impact on the development of Rich’s ideology. This intention explains why some theories like the queer theory or the butch-femme aesthetic are not covered in the following discussions even though they are closely associated with lesbianism and prosper in the 1990s. In the biological and psychoanalysis fields, biological determinism of Havelock Ellis and the phallo-centric concept of Sigmund Freud on lesbianism will be discussed and the two points of view will be compared; Tamsin Wilton’s discussion will present a full view of lesbianism in sociology; I will also take a close look at the complicated development of lesbianism in feminism, and viewpoints of feminists like Ann Koedt and of Radicalesbians will be discussed; as to lesbian literature, I will include Bonnie Zimmerman’s propositions about identifying lesbian writings and her discussion on lesbian writing styles, and Judy Grahn’s observation on the history of lesbian poetics.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Study of Feminine and Feminist Subjectivity in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Margaret Atwood and Adrienne Rich, 1950-1980 Little, Philippa Susan
    Images of Self: A Study of Feminine and Feminist Subjectivity in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Margaret Atwood and Adrienne Rich, 1950-1980 Little, Philippa Susan The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author For additional information about this publication click this link. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1501 Information about this research object was correct at the time of download; we occasionally make corrections to records, please therefore check the published record when citing. For more information contact [email protected] Images of Self: A Study of Feminine and Feminist Subjectivity in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Margaret Atwood and Adrienne Rich, 1950-1980. A thesis supervised by Dr. Isobel Grundy and submitted at Queen Mary and Westfield College, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph. D. by Philippa Susan Little June 1990. The thesis explores the poetry (and some prose) of Plath, Sexton, Atwood and Rich in terms of the changing constructions of self-image predicated upon the female role between approx. 1950-1980.1 am particularly concerned with the question of how the discourses of femininity and feminism contribute to the scope of the images of the self which are presented. The period was chosen because it involved significant upheaval and change in terms of women's role and gender identity. The four poets' work spans this period of change and appears to some extent generally characteristic of its social, political and cultural contexts in America, Britain and Canada.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes for the Downloaders
    NOTES FOR THE DOWNLOADERS: This book is made of different sources. First, we got the scanned pages from fuckyeahradicalliterature.tumblr.com. Second, we cleaned them up and scanned the missing chapters (Entering the Lives of Others and El Mundo Zurdo). Also, we replaced the images for new better ones. Unfortunately, our copy of the book has La Prieta, from El Mundo Zurdo, in a bad quality, so we got it from scribd.com. Be aware it’s the same text but from another edition of the book, so it has other pagination. Enjoy and share it everywhere! Winner0fThe 1986 BEFORECOLTJMBUS FOTJNDATION AMERICANBOOK THIS BRIDGE CALLED MY BACK WRITINGS BY RADICAL WOMEN OF COLOR EDITORS: _ CHERRIE MORAGA GLORIA ANZALDUA FOREWORD: TONI CADE BAMBARA KITCHEN TABLE: Women of Color Press a New York Copyright © 198 L 1983 by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without permission in writing from the publisher. Published in the United States by Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, Post Office Box 908, Latham, New York 12110-0908. Originally published by Peresphone Press, Inc. Watertown, Massachusetts, 1981. Also by Cherrie Moraga Cuentos: Stories by Latinas, ed. with Alma Gomez and Mariana Romo-Carmona. Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1983. Loving in the War Years: Lo Que Nunca Paso Por Sus Labios. South End Press, 1983. Cover and text illustrations by Johnetta Tinker. Cover design by Maria von Brincken. Text design by Pat McGloin. Typeset in Garth Graphic by Serif & Sans, Inc., Boston, Mass. Second Edition Typeset by Susan L.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultivating the Daughters of Bilitis Lesbian Identity, 1955-1975
    “WHAT A GORGEOUS DYKE!”: CULTIVATING THE DAUGHTERS OF BILITIS LESBIAN IDENTITY, 1955-1975 By Mary S. DePeder A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History Middle Tennessee State University December 2018 Thesis Committee: Dr. Susan Myers-Shirk, Chair Dr. Kelly A. Kolar ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I began my master’s program rigidly opposed to writing a thesis. Who in their right mind would put themselves through such insanity, I often wondered when speaking with fellow graduate students pursuing such a goal. I realize now, that to commit to such a task, is to succumb to a wild obsession. After completing the paper assignment for my Historical Research and Writing class, I was in far too deep to ever turn back. In this section, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the following individuals who followed me through this obsession and made sure I came out on the other side. First, I need to thank fellow history graduate student, Ricky Pugh, for his remarkable sleuthing skills in tracking down invaluable issues of The Ladder and Sisters. His assistance saved this project in more ways than I can list. Thank-you to my second reader, Dr. Kelly Kolar, whose sharp humor and unyielding encouragement assisted me not only through this thesis process, but throughout my entire graduate school experience. To Dr. Susan Myers- Shirk, who painstakingly wielded this project from its earliest stage as a paper for her Historical Research and Writing class to the final product it is now, I am eternally grateful.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    Conditions By Various Authors Conditions By various authors, with an emphasis on writing by lesbians. Contents 01 The Moon Is No Muse — Enid Dame .................................................1 Copyright © 1977 by Conditions 02 Bushpaths — Wilmette Brown ............................................................3 All rights reserved. No part of this book can be copied, reproduced, or used in any way without written permission from Conditions. At the time of publication, 03 Grinning Underneath — Maureen Brady ...........................................5 all rights revert to the authors. Illustrations © 2020 by Keira Zanbak 04 Assumption in the Algarve: 1974 — Jacqueline Lapidus .................12 Book design by Keira Zanbak 05 Waiting for release — Sukey Durham ..............................................16 Conditions is edited by Elly Bulkin, Jan Clausen, Irena Klepfisz, and Rima Shore. We work collectively to select and edit material which will reflect women’s per- ceptions of themselves, each other, the conditions of their lives, and of the world 06 A Trip to the Anza-Borrego Desert — Susan Krieger ....................19 around them. This collective process is a difficult one. We have found that the four of us do not 07 Dead Heat — Lorraine Sutton ............................................................31 always agree or identify with viewpoints expressed by the women we publish, or with each other. 08 An Interview With Adrienne Rich — Elly Bulken .........................33 Because we do not proceed from a single conception of what Conditions should be, we feel it is especially important to receive critical and personal reactions to the writing we publish. 09 Contributors’ Notes .............................................................................53 The Moon Is No Muse Enid Dame The moon is no muse. She’s got enough to do hauling oceans back and forth across the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Professor Bonnie Zimmerman Vice-President for Faculty Affairs September 7, 2010 Interviewed by Susan Resnik for San Diego State
    Professor Bonnie Zimmerman Vice-President for Faculty Affairs September 7, 2010 interviewed by Susan Resnik for San Diego State University 125:51 minutes of recording SUSAN RESNIK: Today is Tuesday, September 7, 2010. This Susan Resnik. I’m with Professor Bonnie Zimmerman in the offices of Special Collections and University Archives at San Diego State University. We’re going to conduct an oral history interview. This project is funded by the John and Jane Adams Grant for the Humanities. Professor Zimmerman retired this year from San Diego State University after a notable career in a variety of roles, beginning in 1978. From 2003 until this year, she was associate vice-president and led Faculty Affairs, having previously served as the chair of the university senate. She began as a lecturer in women’s studies in 1978, and became an associate professor of women’s studies from 1980 through ’83. In 1983 she became a professor. She taught courses, chaired theses, contributed to the syllabus, served as the chair of women’s studies from 1986 to 1992, and again from 1995 to 1997. For more than thirty years, through her research, teaching, and program development, she has fostered the growth of women and lesbian studies. She’s been an active member of the Modern Language Association and the National Women’s Studies Association, of which she served as president in 1998 and 1999. She has published extensively, including her books, Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia; The New Lesbian Studies: Into the 21st Century; Professions of Desire; Lesbian and Gay Studies in Literature; and the Safe Sea of Women: Lesbian Fiction, 1969 to 1989.
    [Show full text]
  • By Dagmar Schultz AUDRE LORDE – HER STRUGGLES and HER Visionsi in This Presentation I Will Try to Explain How Audre Lorde Came
    By Dagmar Schultz AUDRE LORDE – HER STRUGGLES AND HER VISIONSi In this presentation I will try to explain how Audre Lorde came to Germany, what she meant to me personally and to Orlanda Women’s Publishers, and what effect her work had in Germany on Black and white women. In 1980, I met Audre Lorde for the first time at the UN World Women’s Conference in Copenhagen in a discussion following her reading. I knew nothing about her then, nor was I familiar with her books. I was spellbound and very much impressed with the openness with which Audre Lorde addressed us white women. She told us about the importance of her work as a poet, about racism and differences among women, about women in Europe, the USA and South Africa, and stressed the need for a vision of the future to guide our political praxis. On that evening it became clear to me: Audre Lorde must come to Germany for German women to hear her, her voice speaking to white women in an era when the movement had begun to show reactionary tendencies. She would help to pull it out of its provinciality, its over-reliance, in its politics, on the exclusive experience of white women. At that time I was teaching at the Free University of Berlin and thus had the opportunity to invite Audre Lorde to be a guest professor. In the spring of 1984 she agreed to come to Berlin for a semester to teach literature and creative writing. Earlier, in 1981, I had heard Audre Lorde and Jewish poet Adrienne Rich speaking about racism and antisemitism at the National Women’s Studies Association annual convention.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Cantatas of the Wild: Memoir, Mysticism, and Modern Feminist Poetry Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8pv9p0mf Author Keith, Melissa Dawn Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Cantatas of the Wild: Memoir, Mysticism, and Modern Feminist Poetry By Melissa Dawn Keith A dissertation submitted in satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In English in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Associate Professor Geoffrey G. O’Brien, Chair Associate Professor Julia Bader Associate Professor Natalia Brizuela Fall 2012 Cantatas of the Wild: Memoir, Mysticism, and Modern Feminist Poetry Copyright © 2012 By Melissa Dawn Keith 1 Abstract Cantatas of the Wild: Memoir, Mysticism, and Modern Feminist Poetry By Melissa Dawn Keith Doctor of Philosophy in English Professor Geoffrey G. O’Brien, Chair In this dissertation, the introduction defines the erotic-mystical mode, using the poetry and prose of the five feminist writers that I argue constitute a core poetic movement. Based on their shared understandings of the centrality of this disruptive new paradigm—with important influences from English Romanticism—these poets create both lyric and prose works that position them as major leaders in feminist thought in the seventies. Collapsing conventional binaries, their works offer examples of how to live, on the deepest level, as life-affirming beings, regardless of gender, race, class, or sexuality, on a damaged, yet still vibrant, planet. They never deny difference, embracing all that is living, yet still grounded in faith in possibilities of collective communication.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Archive of Queer Politics: Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand Listening for Something
    In the archive of queer politics: Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand Listening for Something Liana Borghi Università degli Studi di Firenze [email protected] Nel caso dei queer studies il punto fondamentale non è forse la resistenza critica alle categorie sessuali da cui si è costruiti? [The fundamental point of queer studies is it not the critical resistance to the sexual categories by which we are constructed?] (M. Pustianaz, 2009). Mother’s daughter who at ten years old knew she was queer (C. Moraga, 1983: ii). This paper endorses the suggestion that we push back the timeline of queer theory to the 1980s rooting it firmly in lesbian feminism despite the disclaimers and erasures of official queer theory. But rather than stating the obvious – i.e. that queer theory owes much to the lesbian movement – I would claim narrative space for a «reparative reading», and talk in terms of a «lesbian Queer». After the movement of radical lesbians in the 70s had settled down into visibility claims, identity politics and civil rights, it opened out into the fractals of the sex wars, butch and femme, S&M, and of lesbian AIDS projects alongside performance art and the bar scene – changing from a community, never singular but united by compact tales of coming out stories, to communities and diversities some of which eventually joined Queer Nation and Act Up alongside the GLT associations, as Arlene Stein has described in Sisters and Queers (1992). Looking back to those years, Adrienne Rich writes that «in the 1980s, AIDS catalyzed a new gay activism in outrage laced with mourning», and adds, quoting the poet and critic Essex Hemphill, that the epidemic pointed out that the «community» could no longer be surmised to be «one gender and one color» when the extreme cultural and economic differences produced such a higher death count among Black gay men (A.
    [Show full text]
  • Patriarchy, Sexual Identity, and the Sexual Revolution Author(S): Ann Ferguson Source: Signs, Vol
    Patriarchy, Sexual Identity, and the Sexual Revolution Author(s): Ann Ferguson Source: Signs, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Autumn, 1981), pp. 158-172 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173515 . Accessed: 22/10/2014 13:59 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Signs. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 167.206.19.4 on Wed, 22 Oct 2014 13:59:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions VIEWPOINT On "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence": Defining the Issues Ann Ferguson, Jacquelyn N. Zita, and Kzthryn Pyne Addelson Ann Ferguson: Patriarchy,Sexual Identity,and the Sexual Revolution Adrienne Rich's paper "Compulsory Heterosexualityand Lesbian Exis- tence"' suggests two important theses for further development by feministthinkers. First, she maintainsthat compulsory heterosexuality is EDITORS' NOTE: Marianne Hirsch suggestsat theconclusion of her review essaythat the phrase "lesbian continuum" may serve to liberate usfrom masculine theoryand languageinto genuinelyfeminine speculation on thenature of women's sexualityand women'smothering. As ithappens, the question of whether the phrase can infactdo so is at thecenter of the debate between Ann Ferguson, Jaquelyn N.
    [Show full text]
  • FIELD, Issue 77, Fall 2007
    A FIELD CONTEMPORARY POETRY AND POETICS NUMBER 77 FALL 2007 OBERLIN COLLEGE PRESS EDITORS David Young David Walker ASSOCIATE Pamela Alexander EDITORS DeSales Harrison Warren Liu EDITOR-AT- Martha Collins LARGE MANAGING Linda Slocum EDITOR EDITORIAL Caitlin Condell ASSISTANTS Alexander Darr Caitlin Jackson James Rowell DESIGN Steve Farkas www.oberlin.edu/ocpress Published twice yearly by Oberlin College. Subscriptions and manuscripts should be sent to FIELD, Oberlin College Press, 50 North Professor Street, Oberlin, OH 44074. Manuscripts will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope. Subscriptions $14.00 a year / $24.00 for two years / single issues $7.00 postpaid. Please add $4.00 per year for Canadian addresses and $7.00 for all other countries. Back issues $12.00 each. Contact us about availability. FIELD is indexed in The American Humanities Index. Copyright © 2007 by Oberlin College. ISSN: 0015-0657 CONTENTS Adrienne Rich: A Symposium) Marilyn Hacker 11 "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law": The Young Insurgent's Commonplace Book Katie Ford 21 "The Burning of Paper Instead of Children": The Fire Triangle David Young 29 "The Blue Ghazals": The Loosening of Song Cathy Park Hong 43 "Diving Into the Wreck": Encompassing the All Mary Baine Campbell 50 Oh! Meditations on "Meditations for a Savage Child" Bruce Beasley 60 Through "Through Corralitos Under Rolls of Cloud" Under Rolls of Cloud David Wojahn 67 "An Atlas of the Difficult World": "Where Are We Moored? What Are the Bindings? What Behooves Us?" * * * Jean Gallagher 72 Year in Eleusis V. Penelope Pelizzon 79 The Humanitarian Heather Sellers 80 Self-Portrait as Disgrace Kary Way son 81 Poppies T.
    [Show full text]
  • “Grisley L Business”
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Loughborough University Institutional Repository 10 ‘Grisley “L” business’1? Re-Valuing Female Masculinity and Butch Subjectivity in Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch Claire O’Callaghan According to the lesbian cultural critic Emma Healey, the figure of the butch lesbian not only carries ‘the weight of nearly one hundred years of stereotyping on her shoulders’, but suffers homophobic ‘scorn and ridicule’ from heterosexist culture as well as ‘internalised lesbophobia’ within lesbian communities.2 As Gayle Rubin indicates, the term ‘butch’ is ‘the lesbian vernacular for women who are more comfortable with masculine gender codes, styles or identities than with feminine ones’ and ‘encompasses a variety of ways of and motivations for using masculine gender codes and preferences’.3 Butchness exists, therefore, as Jack Halberstam points out, on a varied continuum of female masculinities that signify ‘differently gendered bodies’ and female subjectivities.4 Boyish, masculine and/or butch women feature in nearly all of Sarah Waters’s novels. In Tipping the Velvet (1998), Nancy King’s foray into the world of music hall male impersonation and her investment in modes of female masculinity facilitate her discovery of lesbian desire and, as I will discuss later, are integral to her expression of gender and her sexual coming-of-age. Likewise, in Affinity (1999), domestic servant Ruth Vigers is able to pass as male spirit ‘Peter Quick’ in part because of her
    [Show full text]
  • Performing Ourselves at the Center
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research CUNY Graduate Center 2016 Performing Ourselves at the Center Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz CUNY Graduate Center How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_pubs/249 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Sinister Wisdom - 101 Sinister Wisdom VARIATIONS The truth is that women have not stopped loving women, and there is no indication that phenomenon will ever go away, but the language and culture of those women remain as variable today as they were in the twentieth century. Another truth is that patriarchy and its attendant misogyny Sinister Wisdom continue to drive people of all genders to diminish women A Multicultural Lesbian Literary & Art Journal and those who align themselves strongly with the feminine. What remains less clear today is the political piece of the equation—where and how does feminism link up with lesbianism today? Creative Work by: • Trish Salah • Stacy Szymaszek • Elvis B • Fran Winant • Susana Cook Variations • Leah Gilliam And More! Edited by Alexis Clements F ing ort t y Summer 2016 a Y r e b a e l 1976-2016 r s e C Sinister Wisdom 978-1-944981-04-4 US: $ 12.00 www.sinisterwisdom.org ISSN: 0196-1853 101 Cover101-OK.indd 1 25/04/2016 22:37:31 PB Sinister Wisdom 101 - Variations 22 Sinister Wisdom 101 - Variations PERFORMING OURSELVES AT THE CENTER his interview sits alongside an extended version edited for TAmanda Curreri’s solo exhibition, The Calmest of Us Would be lunatics, which took place from January 21–May 8, 2016, at Rochester Art Center, in Rochester, Minnesota.
    [Show full text]